Owning a skyline as a daily driver.

[Papadirty]

Hello,

First off I have posted before and I've been lurking since then and you guys post a lot of useful stuff. But now I've run into a few questions. I'm looking to buy a skyline this summer, it's been my dream car for as long as I can remember and after next winter I'll be a fully trained and certified mechanic. I've been saving up and I'm in the 10k CND budget range, and I'm looking for an R32 or if I get lucky and find one an R33. But here are my concerns. This will be my only car, I'm giving my mother my accord because she's pretty broke and her car broke down and the motor is shot. I took all the preformance stuff off my accord, sold it, and gave her the car in semi stock shape.

You can skip to here, this is the important stuff:
But what that means is the skyline will be my only car, and my friend who I live with our here drives a 450whp 1988 camaro, which is by no means out daily driver. Is buying a skyline and making it my daily driver a bad idea? Are they hard on gas and do they rust easy? They use a lot of salt on the roads up here. Buying a R32 or R33 would kinda be a hold over until I can buy a R34 (My true dream car) in 5 - 10 years when I can afford one. So I'm not too too worried about letting the car go a little, I'll just fix it up when I can afford a real DD type car. Should I only look at GT-Rs? Would a lower model be a disapointment? Any other info you think is related to any of this would be a huge help. I'm a half broke college student about to blow 10k on a 15 year old car hahah

TLDR;
Pros and cons of owning a skyline as a daily driver

[Daryl @ RightDrive]

I think it will be OK as a daily driver if it is prepped properly. So full rust proofing (I'd do it twice to be sure!), good snow tires, and lots of spare parts in case it breaks down. Your disadvantage here is that you are fairly far away from any shops that stock Skyline parts, so if you stock some yourself it will take care of that concern.
A GT-R would be essential, unless you plan to drive the RWD GTS-T in snow.
Not sure how much snow you guys get up there, but if it's pretty deep I wouldn't recommend the Skyline. Get a Pajero instead, they can get through anything

Pros: fun to drive
Cons: if it breaks you have no car for awhile

[Tony-R32]

I use my GTS-t in the summer as a daily driver and it's lots of fun! Only difference is you'll be spending more on gas and oil changes as you have to do them more often being a DD.

However for winter time I park mine. Most people on this forum will recommend not driving any type of skyline in the winter, they are too nice of cars to ruin in the harsh conditions of winter!

[trickey1991]

i love having my R32 GTST as a daily man..very reliable..fast as balls...and a head turner ..love it..straight up..went from an integra that was reliable..but love driving a skyline daily way better..in all honesty

[cschepp]

Dd driving my car is awesome... Kinda forgot what it's like bcauee I haven't driven in 2 years. But when I did man was it fun. Open parking lots were always fun too really early in the morning

[NismoS-tune]

You want a DD, I'd go with a GTS-T R32 which is the cheapest (more money for extra parts or repairs/maintenance) and is not expensive to DD. $10k could still a risky GTR to get at that price.

[DreadedFist]

If you want to daily a skyline, buy a gts-t or gts25t that is in really good condition. Back when I had to drive to work 5 days a week, my hcr32 never let me down, aside from getting abysmal fuel economy (which it still does, something I still have yet to figure out, )

Repairs will still be expensive, but not as rape-like as the GTR's. Plus gtst's are just as fun, screw anyone who says otherwise :P

[gtrjon]

k well a gtr will kill your wallet on gas alone compared to what most people daily drive. yea they are fun to drive and you get attention every where you go but if you cant afford another cheap car you prob cant afford to dd a 15 year old car. but never know you may find one that is reliable and well kept. i would say gtr or bust personally just cause i never liked gtst and awd all day!

[Nismo_line]

i love dd my gts and for having 10k buy a gts in great shape and find a cheap beater well worth it. gts have tons of power arnt to bad on gas and tons of fun

[Papadirty]

I don't mind it being a little hard on gas, I drive an accord with a V6 right now, and well like I said the guy I live with drives a V8. And our "Other Ride" is a '94 chev pick up everything needed to clear snow and such (and isn't road legal to the slightest, I can put my foot threw the floor of the truck there is a hole that big).

Thanks for all the help, I'm still thinking this over and I've got a few other cars to look at like RX-7s, might cheap out and get a RSX, Talon or Stealth. But if it's viable I'd kill for a skyline.

Is it the parts themselves or the labour that is going to be the killer? And are they trustworthy cars or am I going to be fixing this and that every few weeks.

[Nismo_line]

if you buy a nice clean car then it should be reliable i only had to fix mine once since i bought it

[Nismoist]

if you buy a nice clean car then it should be reliable i only had to fix mine once since i bought it

$10K budget will likely not get you a clean and DD reliable Skyline. Spend more when buying the car and less later in repairs IMO. Also you need to do a ton more reading on this forum before you look to buy, especially the stickies which are full of excellent info.

[cschepp]

Ok if you have 10k buy rev10k's car! Clean car with a few add ons I believe. Well worth the money and as for maintenance of the vehicles they aren't super expensive to maintain! The only thing that will suck is gas mileage

[Snow]

In the sumner I dd a gts-t. I would imagine it's almost entirely useless in the snow with my modifications, but I've never tried so I can't say for sure. I've had friends put winters on them and said they do ok but that's in a Vancouver winter (or lack thereof). If you want awd find a gts-4.

The good thing about a gts-t is they get decent mileage when you're not ragging on it, they're easy to work on, less finnicky than a gtr, and still a blast to drive. Will you beat your friends Camaro in a straight line? No. Will you keep up? Sure, but you probably stand more of a chance in the corners.

All-in-all, I say buy a gts, save your other money for modding/repairs or the R34. Make some smart investments now and you might be able to afford your true dream car sooner.

Whatever you do, don't buy an RX7... Financial suicide.

[Chewy]

$10K budget will likely not get you a clean and DD reliable Skyline..

This is incorrect. If you want a reliable daily skyline, buy one in stock-ish condition. They're cheap as chips (for a GTS) and you can mod as you see fit.

GTRs are harder to come by in great shape, and when you do, they cost a fair bit. However you could take the plunge and get one for cheaper, there's just a better chance that things will either be already broken, nearly broken or ready to break.